... and other stories.
Papers, listed by lead author: M
M
Maddox, J., Randi, J. and Stewart, W.W., (1988) High-dilution experiments a delusion (with response from Benveniste, J.) Nature (news and views) Vol. 334 pp. 287-291
“The now celebrated report by Dr J. Benveniste and colleagues elsewhere is found, by a visiting Nature team, to be an insubstantial basis for the claims made for them.
THE remarkable claims made in Nature (333,816; 1988) by Dr Jacques Benveniste and his associates are based chiefly on an extensive series of experiments which are statistically ill-controlled, from which no substantial effort has been made to exclude systematic error, including observer bias, and whose interpretation has been clouded by the exclusion of measurements in conflict with the claim that anti-IgE at “high dilution” will degranulate basophils. The phenomenon described is not reproducible in the ordinary meaning of that word...”
THE remarkable claims made in Nature (333,816; 1988) by Dr Jacques Benveniste and his associates are based chiefly on an extensive series of experiments which are statistically ill-
Links: [abstract - pub med ]:[full text - pdf ]
Responses: This is a refutation of Dayenas, E., et al (Benveniste’s ‘memory of water’ paper).
Responses: This is a refutation of Dayenas, E., et al (Benveniste’s ‘memory of water’ paper).
Mathie, R.T., Baitson, E.S,, Hansen. L,, Elliott, M.F., Hoare, J., (2010) Homeopathic prescribing for chronic conditions in feline and canine veterinary practice Homeopathy Vol. 99 no. 4 pp. 243-8
“Twenty-one homeopathic veterinary surgeons recorded data from consecutive feline and canine patients over a 12-month period... CONCLUSIONS: A programme of controlled research in veterinary homeopathy for these feline and canine conditions is clearly indicated.”
So, a massive amount of research has been carried out to tell us that a massive amount of research needs to be carried out to test whether treating sick animals with water or sugar tablets is a worthwhile undertaking... RationalVetMed would beg to differ I’m afraid.
This spectacularly lame conclusion didn’t stop the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons getting very excited about the whole thing though (see link below): “Association claims proof of homeopathic effectiveness... Owners can now be confident that homeopathic medicines can be effective for common canine and feline conditions in many animals” screamed the headlines.
Then, after a period of sober reflection (and possibly, one would like to think, an embarrassed “ahem...”): “the BAHVS would like to retract the following statements...: ‘Association claims proof of homeopathic effectiveness’ and ‘Owners can now be confident that homeopathic medicines can be effective for common canine and feline conditions in many animals according to the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons’” screamed the retraction. Heh, heh!
Mathie, R.T., Hansen. L., MF Elliott, M.F. and J Hoare, J., (2007) Outcomes from homeopathic prescribing in veterinary practice: a prospective,research-targeted, pilot study Homeopathy Vol. 96, pp. 27-34
“We organised a pilot data collection study, in which 8 Faculty of Homeopathy veterinarians collected practice-based clinical and outcomes data over a 6-month period... “
Just another outcome study designed to fool people into thinking that homeopathy works. Nothing to see here, move along...
Just another outcome study designed to fool people into thinking that homeopathy works. Nothing to see here, move along...
Mathie, R., (2003) The research evidence base for homeopathy: a fresh assessment of the literature Homeopathy Vol. 92 pp. 84-91
McCarney, R., Fisher, P., Spink, F., Flint, G., van Haselen, R., (2002) Can homeopaths detect homeopathic medicines by dowsing? A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial J R Soc Med Vol. 95 pp. 189-191
“... These results, wholly negative, add to doubts whether dowsing in this context can yield objective information.”
Links: [abstract - JRSM ]:[full text - JRSM ]:[full text - JRSM, pdf ]
The next few papers are some of the strangest papers you'll ever read on homeopathy or anything else really. Lionel Milgrom has been producing these speculative, thought experiment type works for years now. His technique seems to be simply to take real life effects that are weird or counter intuitive such as quantum entanglement, gyroscopic force, lasers and so forth and use them as metaphors for how he thinks homeopathy might work. For example quantum entanglement means that sub atomic particles can apparently be 'joined' even though they are some distance apart so Milgrom speculates that the homeopathic patient can be similarly 'joined' with the practitioner and the remedy. They are complete fantasy, pure speculation, involving no experimentation at any stage and they would be a source of simple amusement if it wasn't for the fact that it gives ammunition to homeopaths who claim that homeopathy can/will be explained by "Quantum Theory". Obviously this argument is only ever put across by particularly stupid homeopaths who chose to forget that Milgrom is talking about a metaphor only (surely he can’t actually believe that a homeopathic practitioner is a sub-
Links: [JREF thread concerning Milgrom]:[Quackometer - why Lionel Milgrom is just plain wrong ]:[apgaylard - the hydra of homeomythology ]
Milgrom, L.R., (2002) Patient-practitioner-remedy (PPR) entanglement. Part 1: a qualitative, non-local metaphor for homeopathy based on quantum theory Homeopathy Vol. 91 no. 4 pp.239-248
“A metaphor for homeopathy is developed in which the potentised medicine, the patient, and the practitioner are seen as forming a non-local therapeutically ‘entangled’ triad, qualitatively described in terms of the transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics.”
Milgrom, L.R., (2003) Patient–practitioner–remedy (PPR) entanglement. Part 2: extending the metaphor for homeopathy using molecular quantum theory Homeopathy Vol. 92 no. 1 pp.35-43
“A quantum metaphor developed previously for homeopathy, involving triadic patient–practitioner–remedy (PPR) entanglement, is extended by importing concepts used in chemistry to describe the electronic structures of molecules. In particular, the electronic energy states of triangular tri-atomic molecules are used metaphorically to predict that (a) the more a homeopathic medicine is potentised, the deeper the level of cure is likely to be, and (b) the practitioner can be included as a beneficiary of the therapeutic process. The model also predicts that remedy attenuation and degree of PRR interaction could (in the quantum theoretical sense) represent a pair of complementary conjugate variables.”
Links: [abstract - science direct ]
Milgrom, L.R., (2003) Patient–practitioner–remedy (PPR) entanglement. Part 3. Refining the quantum metaphor for homeopathy Homeopathy Vol. 92 no. 3 pp. 152-160
“The notion of patient-practitioner-remedy (PPR) entanglement, previously proposed for homeopathy, is refined by adapting concepts derived from Greenberger, Horne, and Zeilinger's treatment of three-particle entanglement (GHZ states), and a generalised version of quantum theory, called weak quantum theory (WQT). These suggest that for maximum PPR entanglement during the therapeutic encounter, the practitioner's awareness needs to be directed inward as well as outward toward the patient, and that health and disease are mirror images of each other, similar to and represented by, the relationship of complex numbers to their complex conjugates.”
Links: [abstract - pub med ]
Milgrom, L.R., (2004) Patient–practitioner–remedy (PPR) entanglement Part 4.: Towards classification and unification of the different entanglement models for homeopathy Homeopathy Vol. 93 no. 1 pp. 4-42
“The possibility of classifying and unifying some of the recent entanglement models for homeopathy is discussed. Unification involves combining the previous GHZ/WQT-based entanglement model, itself a fusion of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) three-particle entanglement and a generalised version of quantum theory, called Weak Quantum Theory (WQT), with Walach's semiotic model involving double entanglement. The new combined model invokes a 'geometry' of patient-practitioner-remedy (PPR) entanglement embedded in a therapeutic state space.”
Links: [abstract - pub med ]:[full text - altcancerweb, pdf ]
Milgrom, L.R., (2004) Patient–practitioner–remedy (PPR) entanglement. Part 5. Can homeopathic remedy reactions be outcomes of PPR entanglement? Homeopathy Vol. 93 no. 2 pp. 94-98
“The possibility that well-documented types of reaction to the prescribed homeopathic medicine may be outcomes of PPR entanglement is discussed within the context of a previously described model for homeopathy that incorporates GHZ three-particle entanglement and Weak Quantum Theory.”
Links: [abstract - pub med ]:[full text - altcancerweb, pdf ]
Milgrom, L.R., (2004) Patient-practitioner-remedy (PPR) entanglement. Part 6. Miasms revisited: non-linear quantum theory as a model for the homeopathic process Homeopathy Vol. 93 no. 3 pp. 54-158
“The possibility that non-linear quantum theory could be used to model PPR entanglement is discussed in relation to the treatment of miasms. In this model, miasms are imagined as disease entities behaving like solitary waves, or 'solitons' which, when trapped in a therapeutic state space, requiring equally soliton-like (miasmatic or high potency) remedies to effectively 'annihilate' them.”
Links: [abstract - pub med ]:[full text - altcancer web ]
Milgrom, L.R., (2004) Patient-Practitioner-Remedy (PPR) Entanglement, Part 7: a gyroscopic metaphor for the vital force and its use to illustrate some of the empirical laws of homeopathy Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd. Vol.11no. 4 pp. 212-223
“This preliminary theoretical analysis suggests that perhaps these less well-known empirical observations should be reinvestigated and, if confirmed, could begin ultimately to provide a much-needed alternative to the doubleblind placebo-controlled trial as a means of investigating and testing the efficacy of homeopathy.”
Milgrom, L.R., (2005) Patient-Practitioner-Remedy (PPR) entanglement, Part 8: 'Laser-like' action of the homeopathic therapeutic encounter as predicted by a gyroscopic metaphor for the vital force Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd. Vol. 12 no. 4 pp 206-13
“The preliminary theoretical investigation reported here develops the metaphor further by suggesting that the effect of this practitioner mirror-like activity on a patient's Vital Force during the therapeutic encounter, might be likened to the sequence of operations by which lasers function. The analogy seems compelling, as an essential feature of laser operation is the arrangement of parallel mirrors placed at both ends of the laser's resonant cavity.”
Links: [abstract - pub med ]
Milgrom, L.R., (2005) Are randomized controlled trials (RCTs) redundant for testing the efficacy of homeopathy? A critique of RCT methodology based on entanglement theory J Altern Complement Med. Vol. 11 no. 5 pp. 831-8
“Assuming the PPR entangled state is a necessary condition for therapeutic interaction, alternatives to RCTs are urgently required that can take into account possible entangled specific and nonspecific effects during trials of homeopathy. That RCTs sometimes deliver positive results for the use of homeopathic remedies may be caused by residual entanglement arising from homeopathic remedy manufacture.”
LINKS: [abstract - pub med ]:[full text - homeopathy.org ]
Milgrom, L.R., (2006) "Torque-like" action of remedies and diseases on the vital force and their consequences for homeopathic treatment J Altern Complement Med Vol. 12 no. 9 pp. 915-929
“with only observation of symptoms and changes in them to indicate, indirectly, the state of a patient's Vf, the safest treatment strategy might be for the practitioner to proceed via gradual removal of the symptoms. This is congruent with Hahnemann's later development and use of the LM potencies, as described in his final 6th edition of The organon.”
Links: [abstract pub med]
Milgrom, L.R., (2006) Towards a new model of the homeopathic process based on quantum field theory Forsch Komplement Med Vol. 13 no. 3 pp. 174-83
“... an underlying similarity in discourse could exist between homeopathy and quantum theory which could be useful for modelling the homeopathic process. This preliminary investigation also suggested that key elements of previous quantum models of the homeopathic process, may become unified within this new QFT-type approach.”
Milgrom, L.R., (2007) Conspicuous by its absence: the Memory of Water, macro-entanglement, and the possibility of homeopathy Homeopathy Vol. 96 no. 3 pp. 209-219
No abstract given - citation only
Links: [abstract - science direct ]
Milgrom, L.R., (2007) Toward a unified theory of homeopathy and conventional medicine J Altern Complement Med. Vol. 13 no. 7 pp. 759-69
“... Following the logic of these models, conventional medicine could be seen as a special case of a broader therapeutic paradigm also containing homeopathy”
Links: [abstract pub med]
Milgrom, L.R., 2007 Journeys in the Country of the Blind: Entanglement Theory and the Effects of Blinding on Trials of Homeopathy and Homeopathic Provings Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Vol. 4, no.1, pp. 7-16
Wot is he on about this time?!
“The idea of quantum entanglement is borrowed from physics and developed into an algebraic argument... blinding causing information loss resulting from a kind of quantum superposition between the remedy and placebo... History records that at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 the then Vice-Admiral Nelson famously chose to ignore a direct order from his Commander-in-Chief to withdraw... there are situations in real homeopathic practice where a practitioner might intentionally give a placebo as a second prescription, for example, when Pr has assessed that a previous remedy’s action is not exhausted, yet Px is still experiencing symptoms... ‘the collapse of the wave function’... Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle... the homeopathic remedy may be thought to entail the entangled intention of those involved in its preparation without overarching patient-practitioner-remedy entanglement to ‘lock’ the remedy into ‘therapeutic coherence’…”
Oh… wait a minute…
“the use of DBRCTs for testing homeopathy would appear to be a flawed strategy as they seem to destroy the very effects they were purportedly designed to investigate”
Ahhh, now I understand, it’s just a great long excuse about why homeopathy always comes up rubbish when it’s tested properly. If only he’d said that at the start.
Links: [abstract, pubmed]:[full text, pdf, pubmed central]:[abstract, EBCAM]:[fulltext, pdf, EBCAM]
Responses: [JREF forum]:[JREF forum]:[shpalman]:[andrewT blog]
Responses: [JREF forum]:[JREF forum]:[shpalman]:[andrewT blog]
| History of RVM |
| The Best They Can Do |
| The Usual Suspects |
| How to look at evidence |
| CAM journals and evidence |
| Scepticism about homeopathy |
| Arguments |
| Acupuncture references |